In my reading of the Bible testing of the Lord is usually something one does not want to do. Examples can be found in Deuteronomy 6, Isaiah 7, Acts 5, and 1 Corinthians 10 where the Word of God tells us not to test the Lord. Jesus himself even refers to not putting the Lord to the test in Matthew 4 & Luke 4. But the one place God does request us to test Him is when it comes to tithing. Malachi 3:10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, That there may be food in my house, and try me in this, says the LORD of hosts: Shall I not open for you the floodgates of heaven, to pour down blessing upon you without measure?”
I think many of us look at the Old Testament and find it odd that much of the Jewish religion at that time was based on “burnt offerings”. But offering every tenth ox, sheep, or bushel of wheat, wasn’t the point. The point was that we thank God for what he has given us by giving it back to him and trusting him to provide us with what we need. In our day an age our offering for the most part would consist of our money and our time. God bestows many blessings on us and one of those blessings is money so we can provide shelter, food, and clothing to our families. We are asked to tithe our money and out time and if you ask me that is way easier, and cleaner, than killing a cow up at church.
One interesting aspect about tithing is that only you & God, and maybe your accounting, know if you are tithing. Do we trust God in his promise that he will pour down blessings upon us without measure or are we so attached to our money that we cannot give it back to God what came from Him in the first place?
Testing the Lord
I think many of us look at the Old Testament and find it odd that much of the Jewish religion at that time was based on “burnt offerings”. But offering every tenth ox, sheep, or bushel of wheat, wasn’t the point. The point was that we thank God for what he has given us by giving it back to him and trusting him to provide us with what we need. In our day an age our offering for the most part would consist of our money and our time. God bestows many blessings on us and one of those blessings is money so we can provide shelter, food, and clothing to our families. We are asked to tithe our money and out time and if you ask me that is way easier, and cleaner, than killing a cow up at church.
One interesting aspect about tithing is that only you & God, and maybe your accounting, know if you are tithing. Do we trust God in his promise that he will pour down blessings upon us without measure or are we so attached to our money that we cannot give it back to God what came from Him in the first place?